"Serious" desktop publishing is my term for those people who want to use their computer to best advantage in text and graphic design. "Serious" desktop publishing requires a certain amount of computer horsepower -- gadgets and hardware requirements above and beyond simple word processing.Let's start with the computer itself. A year ago, computer stores ballyhooed "640K RAM" as being "all the memory you need." Now many stores advertise a full megabyte of memory as a standard feature. If you want to desktop-publish as a professional, you will need more RAM -- at least 2MB, preferably 4MB. Desktop publishing programs hunger for memory, as do graphics.

Stuff is cheap. Really. Yes, a gallon of gasoline is far more expensive than it was last year, but adjusted for inflation it costs about what it did in 1981. In fact, lots of things, such as clothing, electronics and restaurant meals, are, by historical standards, inexpensive. In December 1978, newspaper ads listed a VCR at Sears for $795, more than $2,500 in today's dollars. A basic five-cycle washing machine? Back then, $319.95, which translates to about $1,000. It's cheaper now to enjoy an eight-day vacation in Honolulu.

It's easy to stereotype the South Florida sports fan, especially when all you seem to hear about this time of year is the Daytona 500 and spring training, but there is something for everyone down here - even the bluebloods who would not be caught dead at an event as base as an automobile race or an Orioles exhibition game. For them, there is the Palm Beach Polo Equestrian Club, where 2004 Olympian McLain Ward won the $75,000 Bainbridge Idle Dice Classic on Sunday. The crowd of about 10,000 included the Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson, so it obviously was a classy affair.

The best boat shows are those that focus heavily on vessels that are well-suited to the most common activities and conditions on and in nearby waters. The Chesapeake Bay Boat Show, which opened yesterday at the Convention Center, seems to do just that, with a strong mix of fishing, cruising and day boats.Among the new designs on hand are 26- and 32-foot express cruisers by Carver and Trojan, a 22-foot, flush-deck utility boat by Denali, a slew of Bayliner Capri models from 16 to 20 feet, a pair of 16- and 18-foot jet boats from Sea-Doo and the Albemarle 247 Express Fisherman, a top-of-the-line 24-footer that will handle either coastal or bay-wide fishing.

The Buick Regal's sales have been climbing dramatically lately. That suggests there is some justice in the world, since this is a very nice family car for not a lot of money. It also suggests that there are some reasons for the recent Buick good fortune.The reasons are that the Regal is finally available with four doors and more power.When the Regal and its GM10 siblings, the Pontiac Grand Prix and Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme, were introduced in 1988, they were offered only as coupes when the buyer trend toward sedans was already in progress.

The Kingsdale (Pa.) Fire Department carnival grounds will be the site of lots of excitement and noise next Sunday.The top gunslingersin tractor, two-wheel drive and four-wheel drive pulling are expected to take part in the North-South Shootout Tractor Pull at the fire grounds on Route 194, about six miles north of Taneytown.One of the top area pullers, Todd Weant of Taneytown, is expectedto participate. He has also competed nationally, including a year traveling around the East Coast on the Pro-National Tour.

An article Tuesday about cleaner-running powerboats should have said that a 100-horsepower outboard motor costs about $8,000.The Sun regrets the errors.WASHINGTON -- Boating, the weekend passion of thousands in the Chesapeake Bay region, is destined to become a cleaner (( but more costly pastime under new federal air pollution rules announced yesterday.Targeting powerboats as one of the last major uncontrolled sources of smog, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed emission standards for new gasoline and diesel boat engines.

The Chesapeake Challenge offshore powerboat racing series returns to Baltimore tomorrow and Sunday, and race officials said yesterday that they expect thousands of spectators and thunderous competition."

With the school year beginning, parents across the land are looking at their computers and wondering if their kids should be using them for something more productive than blasting Klingons into another dimension.That means the search for "educational" software begins. To be honest, I've never had much luck with it. My kids would rather watch the weather channel for a couple of hours than put up with a lot of the programs I've tried out on them."Dad, I do this stuff all day in school. Why do I have to do it at home?"

A century after horses relinquished to automobiles their lead role in American transportation, horsepower may be making a comeback. With help from the federal and state governments, Anne Arundel County recently commissioned an $85,000 study to determine whether horse manure can efficiently be used to produce electricity and liquid fuel for motor vehicles. The notion of converting animal waste into an alternate energy source is not new, but such efforts have proved impractical when the conversion process was too expensive or the waste - such as chicken manure - was more commercially valuable as a fertilizer.

For more than three decades, a mid-19th-century buggy has been part of the Carroll County Farm Museum's transportation exhibit, but now it has become the centerpiece of the display after being decked out with a new custom-designed leather interior and a paint job. The restoration of the horse-powered buggy took three months and cost $3,400. The buggy is a unique and important piece of the collection because it is the best example of early transportation the museum owns, said Victoria Fowler, farm museum curator.

By Donna M. Owens and Donna M. Owens,SPECIAL TO THE SUN | June 17, 2004

DOVER, Del. -- At first glance, the exterior of Dover Downs doesn't exactly conjure more famous gambling venues such as Las Vegas or Atlantic City. You won't find long stretches of glittering casinos, hotels and nightclubs. No excessive bright neon lights and blaring signage. The resort is off a busy highway and commercial corridor, with no boardwalk, beach or desert in sight. Yet Dover Downs has its own brand of low-key appeal, one that draws thousands of visitors annually. "Our amenities stack up extremely well with Vegas and Atlantic City, but the attitude is 100 miles south," says Edward J. Sutor, executive vice president/chief operating officer of Dover Downs Gaming & Entertainment Inc. "It's easygoing, and our employees have Southern hospitality.

For 30 years, Winston Tabb traveled from his home in suburban Reston, Va., to his job at the Library of Congress on Washington's Capitol Hill - a 60-mile round trip that took him "two hours at least, on a good day." So when he took a position two years ago as director of libraries at the Johns Hopkins University, he vowed to find a home within walking distance of the school's Homewood campus. Now, his commute is a 10- to 15-minute stroll from his Guilford home. "I like the freedom of it. I like the exercise.

When the heavyweights of the NFL playoff field weigh in this weekend, they will have a rich sense of history on their side. Since the league went to a 12-team format in 1990, home teams have dominated the divisional round, winning 43 of 52 games. Those home teams are the top two seeds in each conference, refreshed and refocused after earning first-round byes. Only once in 13 years under the current system have two home teams, coming off byes, lost in the second round. It happened in 1995, when the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers both bombed.

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Think of Alex Huff's car as Windows on wheels. The Minneapolis man has outfitted his economy sedan with a full-featured personal computer that serves as his highway co-pilot. It reads him his e-mail and the latest stories from the Wall Street Journal. It plays him Sarah McLachlan and The Matrix. It finds him wireless Internet networks in the vicinity so he can surf the Web and get his latest messages. It even pinpoints his precise location using global-positioning satellites so it can feed him driving directions.

Stuff is cheap. Really. Yes, a gallon of gasoline is far more expensive than it was last year, but adjusted for inflation it costs about what it did in 1981. In fact, lots of things, such as clothing, electronics and restaurant meals, are, by historical standards, inexpensive. In December 1978, newspaper ads listed a VCR at Sears for $795, more than $2,500 in today's dollars. A basic five-cycle washing machine? Back then, $319.95, which translates to about $1,000. It's cheaper now to enjoy an eight-day vacation in Honolulu.

The personal computing world has changed dramatically in the last few years, and buyers -- even first-timers -- are far more sophisticated than they once were.Instead of looking for the cheapest PC they can buy to do one particular thing, such as word processing or desktop publishing, they're looking at the personal computer as a multimedia information and entertainment machine for their homes and businesses.As a result, they're worried that the PC they buy today may be outmoded in a couple of years.

Although the cast of characters changes, the Ravens' improbable script for a Super Bowl sequel continues. Winning in the fourth quarter for the fifth time in six weeks, the banged-up defending champions relied on two season-long backups to overcome four turnovers and four second-half lead changes, taking the final bow again in a wild, 39-27 triumph over the Indianapolis Colts yesterday. Rod Woodson delivered the clinching blow in style with 1:34 left in the game, returning an interception 47 yards untouched for a touchdown for an NFL-record 10th time.